


Maab

by elcasaurus



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dinosaur - Freeform, Elf, F/F, Monster - Freeform, dragon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 08:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6510466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elcasaurus/pseuds/elcasaurus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maab awakens in the woods, terrified.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maab

They found her curled in a tight fetal ball, pressing herself into the roots of a tree. Her thin dress had long since muddied and torn, and did little to preserve her modesty. She was dirty, sweat and mud obscured the luminous shade of her pearl white skin. Twigs and leaves knotted in her moonlit hair. She was bones, nothing but bones, and they half expected her to already be dead when he grabbed her shoulder and roughly shook her awake. Her eyes fluttered, bright green but dim at first, slowly focusing in the gentle forest light. He hauled her to her feet, crowing in their strange language, something about a find. She recoiled under his hand. She didn't like their smell. 

He shoved her forward, towards his companion, who cackled madly. She reeled in revulsion. Something about these humans was wrong. They stunk. Their body language was aggressive and cruel. The second human was leering at her and doing something with his pants. Her instincts rang like an alarm in her ears. She stepped to the side and ran. 

She was not made for the forest. Her feet were bare and soft, and every twig stabbed and cut her. Her lungs were weak and struggled to suck in enough air for her flight. Her legs were frail and unworked, and struggled to propel her. Still, she ran like a wild animal, a trapped creature, making her sudden and desperate escape. Behind her the men wasted time yelling after her, and suddenly something zipped past her and crashed into a nearby tree. Some terrible weapon that wanted to bite into her flesh. She was right to run. 

She didn't have much left and wouldn't make it far. She screamed, using what little oxygen she could spare. She called out in every direction she could find, pushing her fear ahead of her, begging to everything that would listen, help help help 

Just as she thought she should collapse where she stood she spotted it, buried in the detritus, hidden by a spray of new bush, the dim opening of a cave, just big enough to offer shelter. She sprinted towards it and ducked inside. 

Inside it was dark and wet, and sharp rocks further bloodied her feet. She staggered forward, away from the entrance, reaching ahead of her for the inevitable back of the cave. It seemed a bottomless black hole that was devouring her, that didn't want to end. The light at the entrance dimmed as the two men stood in front of it, their rough booming voices echoing off the walls, drowning her own scream for help. Her shaking knees failed her, and she fell in the dark, crawling to curl against a sharp pillar, her breath nothing more than ragged sobs as the men came for her, their wretched stink growing sharper in her throat as they approached. She cringed as they reached out for her, then suddenly stopped with a horrible sound and a wet thunk. 

The pillar, she understood vaguely, was moving. Above her it snarled, its voice rolling off the cold of the stone, surrounding them. Its breath was hot, and a warm wetness dripped onto her from above. She did not look up. There was a crunching, grinding sound. The second man was screaming, a panicked shriek of cornered prey. The pillar beast surged ahead, its bulk feeling infinite in the small space, a sharp snap of motion and another shriek, more of the ripping, grinding noises. Maab forced herself to look up. 

Any breath she still had left her. It was impossible. A Walker, a Walker! Here, in this world, millions of years after their loss. A Walker! Its great head lifted as it crunched on part of the body of the man, an arm casually severing and falling from its mouth. It glanced at her with bright golden eyes. A Walker! No, not quite. This being was black, and the memories of the Walkers were softly mottled browns. It was bigger than a Walker should be, and on four legs instead of two, and she was fairly certain they didn't have wings. Still, this was some kind of Walker, something like them, close enough to cloud her eyes with tears. It bent to finish the remains of the man, devouring with teeth as long as her arm every last scrap of meat. Her heart was an ocean, roaring in her ears, her fear and awe washing over her in waves. Finally, finished with the men, it turned on a long graceful neck to regard her directly. 

Maab had nothing left to escape with. Her legs refused to lift her up, her arms could not push her away. She had crumbled for the last time, her only motion to tremble, waiting the glorious teeth. To die this way, she reasoned at the last moment, is not so bad. To die feeding a Walker, even this Walker like thing, is redemptive. She sucked in her breath and held it, hoping it would be as quick as the others, but the killing blow never came. 

Instead, the Walker did the strangest thing as it moved towards her. It stopped being a monster, and instead changed, so quickly that she could have blinked, into a woman. A woman wearing a threadbare shirt and short pants, a woman with a round face and a pointed chin, a woman with black hair as long as her hips. A woman who did not stink of evilness as the men had, and instead knelt before her, her brow knitted in surprise. She spoke to Maab, in the strange language that the humans had, and in her clouded mind she couldn't remember the lessons the War King had taught her. She opened her mouth to say something grateful, but before she could coax a sound past her throat, a wave of blackness overtook her, closing her eyes for her. Her last thought before passing out was how soft the woman's voice was, how dark her eyes.

She awoke to two sensations. The first was the warm sun on her bare shoulders. The second was an odd sizzling noise. 

She blinked against the sunshine. The woman with long black hair was bent over a fire, nudging something in the coals, something that smelled wonderful. When Maab shifted, she gave her a soft smile, speaking gently to her. Maab closed her eyes tight one more time, and when the woman inched closer, she reached out a hand to touch her arm. The woman was sleek and strong, and her language sat at the surface where she could scoop it up, just like the War King told her it would be. She swallowed around the stabbing pain in her throat and croaked, “Thank you.”

The woman smiled at her, “Who's thanking who? I was stuck in there a long time. How are you feeling?”

Maab slowly, carefully sat up. She still felt overwhelmingly weak, and the gnawing, stabbing feeling was back deep in her belly. She was, however, alive, and this was a much better situation that she'd been expecting. She shrugged limply to convey this. 

“Well, you've been out for a minute,” said the woman. She pulled something from the fire, gingerly poking it with the tip of her finger, which suddenly turned into a long curved claw, useful for carving bits off. With some horror Maab realized it was the leg of an animal, cooked long in the fire. Maab's eyes went wide as the woman held the glistening slice of flesh out to her. It smelled amazing.

“Oh come on. You're going to starve to death, just look at you. You can't afford to be a vegetarian today. I promise you bambi will forgive you.” 

“I can't,” whispered Maab. It must have been a deer of some kind, with its delicately cloven hoof that the woman held like a club. She wondered vaguely what had happened to the rest of it. The memory of the giant black winged Walker devouring the men floated to the front of her mind. She suddenly felt overwhelmingly ill, and yet the stabbing in her stomach twisted at the scent of the cooked flesh, a needy, starving beast begging her to do the unthinkable. 

“Sure you can sweetheart, look.” The woman popped the slice into her own mouth and chewed with closed eyes, licking the grease off of her fingertips. She cut another slice for Maab and insistently held it out. “It's pretty good. It'll keep you alive. Come on honey, you have to eat.” 

Maab, shaking, the twisting in her belly a consuming animal, reached out for the slice and tentatively closed her teeth over it, nibbling a small bite. 

It was like nothing else. It was a texture and scent that sent her belly screaming, Her mouth watered suddenly, and unable to resist, she popped the rest into her mouth and chewed. Flavor filled every bit of her senses, leaving her with a low moan. She chewed as long as she could, savoring the intensity of the flavor, trying desperately not to think of the delicate creature she was devouring. The moment she swallowed, the twisting in her belly appeased, just a little. She touched her fingers to her lips and gave a small horrified whimper. What had she done?

But the woman was smiling as gently as a caretaker with the hatchlings, and was holding out another slice from the leg. “That's it honey, just a little more. Not too much, you don't want to get sick.”


End file.
